Vol. XIV No. 4; April 2018 Pages: 24A DDP PUBLICATION

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Special

Themed on ‘Reimagining healthcare in Dubai’, the maiden Dubai International Health Tourism Forum brought together around 1,000 experts from the health, tourism and travel arena. The event provided an ideal platform to discuss latest trends in health tourism, methodologies to ensure patient protection, and ways to enhance patient experience to foster medical tourism.

Seamless health travel in Dubai

Shehara Rizly

Dubai has the second highest doctor to population ratio globally of 33.5 doctors for 10,000 people. Medical tourism thrives only in destinations where the quality of care is very high and Dubai ranks high in this aspect. Dubai must strive to occupy the high end, technology driven, super specialised niche of the medical tourism market which is driven by value. Effects of this action will percolate down to volume based moderate and non-invasive procedures. An important metric that has come into prevalence is patient reported outcome scores.

Dubai has all the right ingredients for making a mark in health tourism. It is equipped with all the first-world amenities one could ask for. Given its strong emphasis on developing high quality social infrastructure, the decision to make this as their base for doctors becomes easier. Dubai could focus on health, wellness and vanity care offering as it gets identified as a viable destination for such services. It can then proceed

with the introduction of compelling offers by forging strong partnerships between clinical, travel and tourism industry.

The Global Health Tourism Council (GHTC) will be spearheading the initiative to develop an assessment, and rating system index and awards for health tourism destinations. An assessment and a rating system index will be fully developed by a working group from the council countries within the GHTC council led by me as the president of the council. The award’s scheme would be administered by GHTC while the providers of health-related services and providers of sector supporting services would be assessed on various criteria. The awards will be handed out each year (starting in 2019) at the annual global healthcare travel forum, aimed for the promotion and delivery of healthcare services to all global citizens.

The aim of this forum was regional and global exchange of knowledge along with expertise in the field of healthcare and travel experience to enhance the experience of health travel in Dubai and worldwide. The event brought together prominent leaders and pioneers from both the public and private health and travel sectors. As Dubai’s first initiative, this forum gave an opportunity to further understand the strengths, opportunities and trends to develop Dubai as a medical tourism hub in the coming years, whilst giving a comprehensive insight on the global transition in areas like health travel matrix, global index, health travel insurance, technology, patient care and marketing using social media. The event was attended by more than 100 hosted buyers across the region.

We are delighted to be supporting the vision of Dubai in establishing the destination as a health tourism hub. We work together with various international tour operators to bring in many health and wellness-oriented tourists to Dubai so that they can enjoy their holiday whilst checking on their wellbeing too. We are based in Madinat Jumeirah and our packages define healthcare tourism as we tailor make them in such a way that the treatment schedules are incorporated around the holiday schedule of travellers.

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has taken the step of introducing a unique travel insurance policy specifically designed for those travellers visiting Dubai for medical procedures and treated at a DXH member medical facility. The policy includes a variety of benefits including coverage for emergency medical expenses. Uniquely, it provides a special coverage that covers the cost of additional medical and repatriation expenses due to an unforeseen medical complication, up to $25,000, that most “normal” travel insurance policies will not provide.

Sho Ahad-ChoudhuryCEODNA Health

Jonathan CooperDirectorWorldwide Insurance Solutions

Dr Benosh HarisDirectorMtresa

Dhiraj JoshiPartner - PwC ME Health Care Strategy, Deals

Dr Layla Al MarzouqiDirector, Health Tourism Council & President, Global Healthcare Travel Council

Linda Abdullah Ali RuhiConsultant–Health Tourism Council, Dubai Health Authority & Head of Organising Committee—DIHTF

DXH SmartCare provides a single point of contact based in Dubai to assist in finding the right provider based specifically on your personal needs, peace of mind in coordinating your travel and health logistics, and managing every detail of your journey. We are continuing the vision of Dubai to enhance the quality of services at every level available to medical tourists, creating a vibrant marketplace for a comprehensive and unparalleled

experience renowned for exceptional quality in care and tourism. We are proud to work alongside DXH and their partners.

We would like to congratulate Dubai Health Authority (DHA)’s His Excellency Dr Humaid Al Qatami and Dr Layla Al Marzouqi for organising this first-of-its-kind event. The event brought all the industry stakeholders together in working towards achieving the strategies set by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum for creating Dubai as a regional medical tourism hub. Thumbay Hospitals have an aggressive strategy to bring in

medical tourists to the country. We have an independent company that takes care of medical tourists into the country.

Stephen SmithOperations DirectorThe Health Bank

Akbar Moideen ThumbayVice President, Healthcare Division—Thumbay Group

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 3EXHIBITIONS

Networking with MiCE professionalsThe 5th ACE of MiCE in Turkey brought together global MiCE professionals from over 40 countries over a period of three days. Co-hosted by Turkish Airlines, the new motto for the event was ‘Everything you need for your meetings and events organisations is at ACE of MiCE exhibition.’

The successful fifth edition of ACE of MiCE had over

$100,000 worth global me-dia coverage value with the support of 170 sponsors and partners, 112 national and 57 international exhibitors from 33 destinations. Con-gresses, meetings and event organisers from European and Middle East countries, USA, Canada, Argentina, India, China and Russia made necessary nego-tiations to bring their global events to Turkey in the upcoming chapters.

Istanbul looks promis-ing in the MiCE sector as it already has adequate infra-structure and several proper-

ties that can accommodate tourists. Top officials inaugu-rated the exhibition at Istanbul Congress Center (ICC), some of who were Ismail Gultekin, Deputy Governor of Istanbul; Volkan Ataman, President, Tourism Media Group and TETKID; Pervin Zeydanli Ya-lazan, General Manager, ICC;

Elif Balci Fisunolglu, ICCA Director for Europe; Mat Johnson, Founder, White Fox Consultancy; among others.

In his speech, Ataman said, “A total of 617 interna-tional hosted buyers attended ACE of MiCE Exhibition be-lieving that Turkey had great

potential. They held 1300 B2B meetings in a day, which means an average of 3.6 meetings per minute.”

The foreign speakers de-livered speeches with ‘I Love Turkey’ banner. Festi Group founder Valerio Festi, Event Technology expert Corbin

Ball and White Fox Consulting founder Matthew Johnson stated that they love Turkey and perceived it as potentially rich in terms of the dynamics of the MiCE sector.

Explaining the indispen-sability of transportation in the event industry, Halil Ibra-him Polat, President—Do-mestic Sales, Turkish Airlines said that they would support the sector with new flight networks. Gültekin stated, “Istanbul is a safe harbour for the global MiCE industry. Thus, we mobilised all the facilities for development of this industry in Turkey.”

Ziya Taskent, Deputy Undersecretary, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkey,

promised to conduct tourism activities in all seasons to increase income and further increase achievements of the MiCE sector. According to the AME hosted buyer policy, 70 per cent of buyers are re-newed every year.

During the period of three days, 29 famous speakers from around the globe inspired the audience in 19 sessions on interesting subjects relevant to the meet-ing and incentive industry.

TT Bureau

The speakers, exhibitors, buyers and the press mem-bers experienced the ‘AMEz-ing Party’ on the second day of the exhibition

Connecting Well

GUESTCOLUMN

EDITORIAL

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Director : Sumeera Bahl Managing Editor : Peden Doma Bhutia Assistant Editor : Shehara Rizly Assistant Desk Editor : Amrita Ghosh Design : Nityanand Misra Business Development Manager : Crisna De Guzman Sales & Admin Assistant : Angelito Villeza Manager - Advertising : Gaganpreet Kaur

In a dynamic and uncertain world, especially in emerg-

ing markets, people are leaning towards the famil-iar brands they know have maintained their core values, preserved their reputation and will provide expertise, authenticity and uphold their trust. Whether a corporate or single product brand, or even corporate portfolio of brands, a potential customer will ask themselves why they should trust in the promises you’re making them.

A brand’s provenance is a persuasive, trusted way to maintain and gain competi-tive advantage, and a strong heritage helps to build cred-ibility, giving credence to a brand’s message. However, at its core, the provenance of a business is not about preserving everything from the past, but simply taking the best aspects forward.

In the GCC, consum-ers are faithful to big name brands they can trust and rely on to deliver exactly what was promised. However, in changing times, smaller bou-tiques are gaining provenance in the market due to word of mouth and online reviews. To maintain brand longevity, it is imperative for brands to evolve, engaging in open

dialogue with customers and building upon their heritage, be it old or new. For the con-sumer, a brand’s provenance is not about preserving the past, it is about preserving the best of the past for the present and future. For the hospitality sector of the fu-ture, there is no room for those who refuse to ad-vance; brands must com-mit to cater to the changing needs of guests while main-taining the levels of service that have come to be associ-ated with the brand.

As a part of the 6th edi-tion of IHG’s annual trends report, we have focused on how we can ensure brand longevity and suc-cess in today’s consumer environment, through the increasingly important role of provenance. Synthesising external research, journal ar-ticles, internal IHG research, and other studies, IHG has defined ‘The Provenance Chain’, which links building a strong, provenance-based business to high quality rev-enue growth.

Building on brand trustConsumers in the GCC persistently lean towards prevalent brands. To keep up with this, hospitality groups need to ensure brand longevity and success in today’s consumer environment.

HPMF launches ME Chapter in DubaiIndia’s leading Hospitality Purchasing Managers’ Forum (HPMF) marked its first ever global entry by launching the Middle East chapter recently at ibis One Central, Dubai. HPMF is the first professional association spreading wings beyond India to the international arena. The office bearers at the helm include Bhanu Pratap Singh, President, Atlantis Hotel, Dubai and Zahid Aslam, Vice President, Saadiyat Rotana Resort & Villas Abu Dhabi.

(The views expressed are solely of the author.

The publication may or may not subscribe to the same.)

Pascal GauvinManaging Director-India

Middle East and Africa, IHG

Provenance is a brand’s legitimate source of expertise, authenticity, and authority: It is familiarity, quality, leadership, and trust.

Perceived value is the customer’s assessment of the trusted quality and worth of the brand. Trust is a critical element of perceived value. Today, customers make business, brand and personal decisions without ever seeing the relationship partner. Engineering trust into the digital experience is essential for building usage, perceived value and profitability.

Preference means that customers will choose a brand over equally priced available options, because it consistently delivers a differentiated experience. As preference strengthens, customers will choose that brand even if it is premium-priced. Preference leads to increased purchase frequency and loyal customer relationships – an emotional commitment, not just convenience. Preference generates trust capital.

Trust capital is a form of organisational wealth, along with financial, intellectual and human capital. Trust capital is the confidence stakeholders have in the goodwill of an organisation to consistently deliver promises of value. Goodwill is the excess of the price paid for a company over its fair market value and the part of trust capital that appears on the corporate balance sheet. Trust capital leads to high quality revenue growth.

High quality revenue growth means increasing both quantity and quality of sales. It comes from having more customers who purchase more often and are more loyal. This leads to increased market share and lower price sensitivity.

The Provenance Chain has five stages

Emerging trends in the ME

Middle East, by far, is the most dynamic and resilient regions in the world. It’s hard to

keep a count of the number of trends that emerge from this region in the fields of technology, travel, tourism and even hospitality. Currently, some trends creating a buzz are medical tourism, artificial intelligence and millennials.

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammad Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, Dubai, the city is taking all the necessary steps to ensure that they become one of the best medical tourism hubs in the world. To support their initiatives, there are many countries that offer the knowledge and training. For the first time, Dubai Health Authority hosted an international health tourism forum which focused on the theme ‘Reimagining Experience.’

Healthcare travel is dedicated to bringing together prominent leaders and pioneers from the public and private health, and travel sectors, to create a platform for global exchange of knowledge and expertise in the field of healthcare and travel experience. The event focused on six main axes: the future of health tourism, health travel metrics and reliable global index, patient centered care, impact of technological innovation on health tourism, medical tourism insurance, areas of health tourism experience and role of social media influencers in the health tourism industry.

Another initiative that would draw crowd towards the Middle East is the Riyadh Travel Fair, set to be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With the 2030 tourism vision, KSA is on track to become a more touristic destination. It’s known as the largest tourism contributor towards the nation since there are many pilgrim tourists visiting the destination throughout the year. This has a very positive impact on the economy of the country and has been able to sustain amidst challenges of war on one side and lowering oil prices on the other. Today, although the oil prices are on a growth meter, Saudi is well geared to know what their goal should be, hence ensuring the infrastructure to accommodate a sustainable tourism sector. The bilateral relations between the two countries do strive to bring them prosperity in their efforts.

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 5EXHIBITIONS

Unlocking trends of adventure travelAl Ain became the first Arab city to host the Pacific Asia Travel Association Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart (PATA ATRTCM) recently, further cementing the region’s commitment to position itself as a leading cultural, leisure and MiCE destination.

Held on the theme ‘Adven-ture in a New Era’, PATA

ATRTCM offered delegations from across the Asia Pacific region an opportunity to exchange knowledge and unlock the full potential of the adventure tourism sector in the digital era. The event brought together industry experts and visionaries from across the globe to discuss pertinent issues in the ad-venture tourism sector. The conference programme included speeches and ple-nary sessions to debate and explore the nuances, trends and dynamics of one of the fastest growing tourism sectors. Keynote speakers included Dr Mario Hardy,

Chief Executive Officer, PATA, Thailand; Norie Quin-tos, Editor at Large, National Geographic Travel and In-dependent Communications Consultant, USA; and Sul-tan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, Executive Director, Tourism Sector, DCT Abu Dhabi.

Hosted by the Depart-ment of Culture and Tour-

ism–Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), the PATA Travel Mart 2018 kicked off in Al Ain Region, as part of the PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2018 (PATA ATRTCM). Al Ain Re-gion’s role as host for the event cements the emirate’s expanding reputation as a world-class destination for

conducting business and holding high-profile confer-ences and meetings.

PATA Travel Mart attracts over 230 delegates from 43 representatives of mem-ber countries for its unique networking opportunities. Appointment sessions and face-to-face meetings were held with adventure prod-

uct buyers and sellers from across the world.

HE Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, Executive Director, Tourism Sector, Department of Culture and Tourism–Abu Dhabi, said, “We would like to thank all the delegates for taking part at the PATA Travel Mart this year. Be-ing one of Asia Pacific’s oldest travel trade shows, it constitutes an important platform for travel and tour-

ism organisations to meet decision makers and new clients. We strongly believe in the need to create strong partnerships between the private and public sectors to drive the industry forward. Our aim to host and attract conferences like these is to make Abu Dhabi the place to engage with all of our inter-national stakeholders, and exchange knowledge which would benefit our econo-mies and communities.”

TT Bureau

HE Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri, Executive Director - Tourism Sector, Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi

Being one of Asia Pacific’s oldest travel trade shows, PATA Travel Mart constitutes an important platform for travel and tourism organisations to meet decision makers and new clients

HE Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri

6 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 AVIATION

Q Why is Etihad Airways

sponsoring the Special Olympics?

As the national carrier of the UAE, we are proud to be supporting Special Olym-pics for the country and the region. Through this partner-ship, we are providing a plat-form to connect with people through sports, inclusively, while displaying the warmth and hospitality of the Emirati culture.

It is interesting to note that many sports included in the Special Olympics are already supported by Etihad Airways through other chan-nels. There is football with

the likes of Manchester City and Major League Soccer, cycling through Abu Dhabi Tour and ITU World Triathlon.

Q What is Etihad’s involvement with

Special Olympics? The airline will be fly-

ing in athletes, equipment, coaches, dignitaries and the

media for the occasion, sup-ported by Hala Abu Dhabi, and Etihad Cargo. Airline staff will work with Special Olympics team to share hospitality expertise.

Q Is the airline’s involvement with

Special Olympics a profit-making initiative?

It’s not a profit initia-tive, rather a giving initiative. Etihad will provide flight support along with sev-eral other benefits to Special Olympics. Etihad Aviation Group’s strategy follows on from the government’s three Year of Giving pillars - cor-porate social responsibil-ity, volunteering and serving the nation.

Etihad at Special OlympicsEtihad is the sponsor of the Special Olympics IX MENA Games 2018 and Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019. The airline’s CEO Peter Baumgartner, talks on hospitality.

TT Bureau

Peter BaumgartnerCEOEtihad Airways

Air Arabia flies direct from Sohag to Jeddah

In an effor t to expand its route, Air Arabia has recently added two destinations to its por tfolio connecting from Egypt. The new route will connect Sohag in Egypt and Jeddah in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The 1 hour 20 minutes flight, which will be the seventh Air Arabia new route being announced this year, operates thrice a week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, depar ting Sohag International Airpor t (HMB) at 06:25 hours and arriving King Abdulaziz International Airpor t (KAIA) at 09:00 hours. The return flight will depar t Jeddah at 09:50 hours and land in Sohag at 10:30 hours local time on the same day.

Adel Al Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia, said, “As air travel continues to grow, especially more so in the Middle East, we will continue to cater to the demand in our core markets. The route to Jeddah from Sohag

will fur ther contribute in the travel and tourism growth of Egypt and Saudi Arabia offering direct connectivity between both cities. This step also underlines our commitment to offering our passengers access to destinations at tremendous value.”

Air Arabia currently operates flights to over 147 routes across the globe from five hubs located in the Middle East and North Africa, and continues to create an ever-expanding network of diverse destinations, allowing for high-quality and cost-effective travel.

Adel Al AliGroup Chief Executive Officer Air Arabia

At a time when more low-cost carriers are ruling

the skies, SaudiGulf becomes a unique player to follow suit not only in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) but also in the international airspace. Al Naboodah Travel and Tourism will be the GSA for the airline in Dubai. With a double daily to Dubai, other destinations are also in the offing towards the latter part of the year in-cluding Pakistan and other GCC countries. The launch of this five-star flight will fur-ther strengthen the relation-ship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. This was supported by Dubai tourism to provide travellers from both countries an additional

new experience onboard a five-star flight.

Samer Majali, President and Chief Executive Officer, SaudiGulf Airlines stated that just after one year and two months of domestic opera-tions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, they found a niche in the international market to serve a destination with

maximum traffic. “We de-cided to go international with Dubai as the first destination. With a double daily between Riyadh and Dubai, we plan to add more destinations to our portfolio. The airline has 16 First and Business Class incorporated with 120 Economy seats coupled with inflight entertainment and Wi-Fi onboard,” Majali shared.

Nasir Jamal Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Al Naboo-dah Travel & Tourism stated, “The highest number of visi-tors to the UAE in terms of revenue comes from KSA. With nearly 15 flights per day, the demand is very high and more capacity is required.”

The flight’s depar-ture from Riyadh will be at 07:50 hrs and arrival in Dubai at 10:55 hrs, with depar ture from Dubai at 12:10 and arrival in Riyadh at 13:05 hrs. The other flight timings will be 16:00 hrs depar ting Riyadh and reaching Dubai by 18:55 hrs, and depar ting Dubai at 20:55 hrs and reaching Riyadh by 21:50 hrs with a star ting all-inclusive fare of AED 999.

Indulge in luxury onboard Known to have the youngest fleet in the world, SaudiGulf Airlines, the unique boutique airline in the Gulf, launched its maiden international operations in Dubai last month.

TT Bureau

Samer MajaliPresident and Chief Executive Officer SaudiGulf Airlines

Nasir Jamal KhanChief Executive OfficerAl Naboodah Travel & Tourism

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 7HOTELS

Dubai hotels on steady growth scaleWith many hotel projects under construction, Dubai’s dynamic hospitality sector has depicted room stock to be 132,000 by the end of 2019. Stakeholders share their insights with .

TT Bureau

Dubai’s hotel industry remains at the forefront of cross-sector efforts to drive tourism growth, as we collectively work towards realising our Tourism Vision and enable our 2020 goals. Driven by the visionary leadership of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, we will continue to work with stakeholders across the public and private

sectors to ensure the hotel industry and the overall tourism sector are aligned with our strategic aspirations to be the most visited, recommended and revisited city in the world.

The hospitality sector continues to benefit from the ever-increasing number of visitors to Dubai, particularly from markets such as India and China. As we look towards Expo 2020, there is significant development taking place around the Business Bay area. As the world’s tallest full-service hotel, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai now offers prime water front accommodation, meeting space and distinctive dining, with the canal

side hub really beginning to take shape. A robust annual events calendar by DTCM has also helped to support the positioning of Dubai as a leading global city to visit.

Our confidence in the ongoing strength of Dubai’s attraction as a destination for both leisure and business is shown in our recent announcement of a new brand – Zabeel House by Jumeirah – and plans for our collection under the new brand include three hotels in Dubai. With two properties in Al Seef and one in The Greens, the Zabeel House by Jumeirah Collection features hotels in vibrant neighbourhoods that

enhance Dubai’s appeal to travellers, with moderately-priced rooms in an upscale, casual environment.

In line with Dubai Tourism’s vision of attracting 20 million visitors per year by 2020, the resort has succeeded in maintaining the strength of the brand in all target markets achieving an overall occupancy of 90 per cent last year. For 2018, we continue to drive long-haul markets and have seen a strong beginning of the year with occupancy levels of over 90 per cent. Creating and maintaining customer loyalty becomes paramount for business success. Customer loyalty can be

promoted and nurtured via customer service which is consistent and aligned with quality management initiatives.

The hotel industry report by DTCM and Future Insights underlines the robust potential of Dubai’s tourism and hospitality sectors. Emaar Hospitality Group supports Dubai’s vision to position the city as a year-round destination that serves to all segments of travellers. Our three home-grown brands, the premium lifestyle Address Hotels+ Resorts, Vida Hotels and Resorts and Rove Hotels meet the lifestyle aspirations of the

diverse tourist demographic that Dubai welcomes. With over 30 hotels in our development pipeline, several in key locations in the city, we will contribute to the growth of the industry.

Select markets in the world deliver a sustainable growth year-on-year – while still delivering high-yield occupancy. This can only be achieved when a vision like making Dubai the leading destination for travel, business and events by 2020 is followed by great initiatives by both the Dubai and the Federal Government. We expect 2018 will follow an upward trend in leisure travel particularly from the Indian, Russian, Chinese and African markets, with

guests finding themselves drawn in by the variety of attractions and activities, events and festivals, and air connectivity.

HE Helal Saeed AlmarriDirector GeneralDubai Tourism

Bill KefferGeneral ManagerJW Marriott Marquis Dubai

Alison BroadheadChief Commercial OfficerJumeirah Group

Timothy KellyGeneral Manager and SVP OperationsAtlantis, The Palm

Olivier HarnischChief Executive OfficerEmaar Hospitality Group

Vipin KhattarGeneral ManagerHyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights and Residences

8 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 FAMILYALBUM

The maiden Dubai International Health Tourism Forum organised by Dubai Health Authority was a resounding success with over 1000 participants and 59 exhibitors from the region. The two-day event focused on many key areas with an objective of promoting Dubai as a health tourism hub within the next few years.

Gaining an insight into the travel and

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 9FAMILYALBUM

healthcare experience in Dubai

10 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 SPECIALFEATURE

Saudi Arabia continues to top the nationality mix at

Ramada Downtown Dubai and Hawthorn Suites by Wynd-ham JBR, contributing 36% and 20% of the overall arriv-als in 2017, respectively. The Retreat Palm Dubai, which opened in September 2017, welcomed guests from the Kingdom, which added up to 10% of its YTD total guest mix.

Dubai’s second largest feeder market, Saudi Ara-bia plays a major role in its overall tourism performance, with the emirate witnessing notable increase in arrivals and tourism-related spend-ing during Saudi holidays, as well as during large-scale retail events.

Mark Fernando, Gen-eral Manager, Ramada Downtown Dubai, noted, “Due to its proximity and accessibility, Dubai remains as the destination of choice for Saudi market. There are some travellers who fly to Dubai just for the weekend, or to shop. Apart from lei-sure travellers, Dubai also benefits from this market in terms of corporate seg-ments, given the strong business ties between KSA and the UAE.”

Each of the proper ty boasts features that are well-suited for the Saudi market, which R Hotels aims to highlight during the four-day Riyadh Travel

Fair. Ideal for large fami-lies, both Ramada Down-town Dubai and Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham JBR have spacious suites with family-friendly fixtures, amenities and services. The two hotels are also located in Dubai’s most prominent retail and lei-sure complex.

The Retreat Palm Dubai MGallery by Sofitel, the re-gion’s first holistic wellbe-ing resort, aims to cater to a specific niche in the Saudi market. “With a growing demand for wellness tour-ism in the region, the hotel seeks to tap Saudi female travellers who are looking for an all-inclusive wellbe-

ing retreat, without travel-ling all the way to Europe or South Asia,” said Samir Arora, General Manager, The Retreat Palm Dubai.

Home to Rayya Well-ness Centre, The Retreat Palm Dubai offers a wide range of tailor-made health and wellbeing programmes and packages. The centre features a luxury spa, state-of-the-art fitness centre and gym, wellness clinic, and a variety of recreation facilities.

“We aim to have a 20% share from KSA mar-ket for 2018 – which is a 10% increase compared to 2017, where our business mix projected only 10% from Saudi guests. There is a big demand for mid-market brands, specifically for families from GCC. The hotel has the right product features for Saudi guests and boasts strategic loca-tion,” commented gen-eral manager Muhammad M Haider. The hotel i s easily accessible to the city’s top leisure and shopping attractions including the newly-

opened beachfront devel-opment, La Mer Dubai.

Mohamed Saad, Direc-tor of Sales and Marketing, Hawthorn Suites by Wynd-ham JBR, will be attending the exhibition on behalf of R Hotels. He shared, “We

are positive that our par-ticipation in Riyadh Travel Fair will bring fruitful results for our hotels. This exhibi-tion is an excellent venue to meet our existing part-ners in Riyadh, as well as pursue new business deals from KSA.”

R Hotels to reinforce presenceR Hotels’ Dubai properties – Ramada Downtown Dubai, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham JBR, ibis Styles Jumeira Dubai and The Retreat Palm Dubai – will take part in the annual Riyadh Travel Fair, to strengthen ties with tour partners and boost presence among Saudi travellers.

Adv

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RIYADH TRAVEL FAIR

ll i si s e dd

ibis Styles Jumeira Dubai seeks to capitalise on the growing demand for mid-market brands, specifically for families from GCC

The Retreat Palm Dubai offers an all-inclusive wellbeing retreat, without travelling all the way to Europe or South Asia

Ramada Downtown Dubai’s suites are the perfect options for Saudi travellers

Ramada Downtown Dubai’s spacious one bedroom suite with a direct view of Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain

The Retreat Palm Dubai is the region’s first holistic wellbeing resort

Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham JBR offers spacious suites for family travellers

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 1 1HOTELS

Gevora stands high up above the skyDubai, with its many records, launched Gevora Hotel, touted to be the tallest hotel in the world and is located in the business precinct of the Financial Centre area. If viewed for the first time, it seems as if one has just spotted Big Ben in Dubai.

As a new entrant to the hospitality sector, Majid

Al Attar introduces the new home-grown Gevora Ho-tel with a stunning view of Dubai’s skyline standing tall-est in the world at a height of 356 meters with 75 floors and 528 keys. The property is located at Sheikh Zayed Road adjacent to the Dubai International Financial Cen-tre (DIFC) within a very short distance to the metro line. The General Manager of the hotel disclosed that the very concept and state-of-the-art design were the creations of a great team work between the owners and the man-agement. The soft opening ceremony of the property

was graced by hotel owners Ma-jid Al Attar, Khalid Al Attar, Ahmed Abdul Rahim Al Attar, Salah Ameen, Mana Al Attar and Mohammed Al Attar.

The entire property will consist of a total of 528 keys - 232 Deluxe Rooms,

265 one-bed room deluxe and 31 two-bedroom suites, five restaurants offering in-ternational and local cuisine, well equipped with a pool,

jacuzzi, state-of-the-art health club and luxury spa for visitors, complete with a panoramic view on the roof-

top with plans for the highest restaurant. The four-star luxury hotel will be the most fascinating build-ing in the city which will now wear the crown of the tallest

hotel from its predecessor JW Marriott Marquis.

The proper ty was launched at a time when Dubai prepares for the in-flux of tourists for Expo 2020. The meeting room facilities at the hotel will be a key driver for the busi-ness clientele in the area who require smaller board

room type of facilities. As Arabian Travel Market is also just a few weeks away, the location of the proper ty is within close proximity to two metro sta-tions. In terms of leisure, the proper ty is family-friendly and the rooms are fully equipped with a kitch-en especially designed for the GCC clientele.

Shehara Rizly

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12 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 NEWS

The Seminyak Beach Re-sort & Spa Bali in the

heart of Bali’s hub is brim-ming with world-class res-taurants and beach clubs. The expansive Seminyak Beach presents a busy at-mosphere, glorious coastline views, celebrated surf breaks and sensational sunsets.

Setting the standard for high-touch hospitality on the island’s most glamorous shores, Seminyak provides a welcome escape from the outside world. The resort is appreciated by guests from the Middle East mainly due to the privacy it offers. On one side, it is the garden fac-ing the villas and the other facing the ocean.

The Seminyak Resort & Spa Bali features 26 suites and 68 rooms with one and two-bedroom villas. On-site amenities include two res-taurants - Sanje Restaurant & Lounge and Santan, along with the chic Hemingway-inspired wine and whisky bar, Klass & Brass. The re-sort also boasts a state-of-the-art fitness centre and an infinity pool.

“With its fantastic beachside location, ocean vistas, lush gardens and Ba-linese hospitality, The Sem-inyak Beach Resort & Spa is intoxicating – a tropical playground for the world’s most elite travellers and a destination in itself,” said Michael Luible, General Manager of the resort.

dnata is the first ground handler to launch a global

roll-out of iCargo and have all its operations on one united platform using unified pro-cesses. Expected to be grad-ually implemented across the system by 2020, iCargo will have a user base of over 5,000 staff members across 27 stations, in 10 countries, interfacing seamlessly with a host of other system applica-tions within the IT landscape of business.

“With iCargo as our technology platform, we are confident that we can stay agile and adapt to the fast changing needs of our customers across the globe,” said Bernd Struck,

Senior Vice President—UAE Cargo & DWC Airlines Services, dnata.

“iCargo is a modern IT platform widely accepted to be best suited to bring about transformational change in the airline cargo industry. Over the years, significant investment has gone in to give iCargo a strong product roadmap, continuously incorporating

technology led innovation and building a collaborative community model of devel-opment,” says Ashok Ra-jan, SVP & Head of Airline Cargo Services, IBS Soft-ware. Through iCargo, dnata will automate key business and operational functions including ULD management, quality moni-toring and mail manage-ment with a single integrated platform - iCargo.

Open for GCC, ME travellers Seamless cargo movementThe Seminyak Beach Resort & Spa Bali was re-launched recently to welcome discerning GCC and ME travellers to the destination.

dnata has entered into a contract with IBS Software to implement the iCargo terminal operation suite across all its stations.

TT Bureau TT Bureau

Michael LuibleGeneral ManagerSeminyak Beach Resort & Spa Bali

The Seminyak Beach Resort & Spa is intoxicating – a tropical playground for the world’s most elite travellers and a destination in itself

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 1 3HOTELS

Currently operating 83 hotels across Africa,

Asia, Europe and the Middle East, the global hospitality firm will make its debut in five new countries – Bangla-desh, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia and the Maldives – while boosting its cluster of hotels in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia and Thailand. Mövenpick will raise a flag in several commercially-stra-tegic destinations from two of Dubai’s most prestigious districts to the Maldives.

“In 2018, our global expansion drive really steps up a gear, with 11 new open-ings planned, thereby putting us firmly on track to meet our target of 125 properties by 2020 and introducing the

Mövenpick brand in some very desirable locations,” confirmed Olivier Chavy, President and CEO, Möven-pick Hotels & Resorts.

Three of Mövenpick’s upcoming hotels will open over the next few months — Mövenpick Asara Resort & Spa Hua Hin in Thailand, Mövenpick Hotel du Lac

Tunis in Tunisia, and Möv-enpick Hotel & Residences Nairobi in Kenya. The re-maining eight properties, set to be launched before the end of the year, will see Mövenpick enter four addi-tional new markets, with the contemporary Mövenpick Resort & Spa Kuredhivaru in the Maldives introducing 105 units, including 72 over-water villas to the idyllic island destination; Möven-pick Hotel Basra capitalis-ing on one of Iraq’s oil and gas hubs; Mövenpick Hotel

& Convention Centre KLIA conveniently located close to Kuala Lumpur Internation-al Airport; and Mövenpick Hotel Sylhet, introducing an enticing mix of business and leisure facilities in north-east Bangladesh.

In the Middle East, Möv-enpick will be opening two ho-tels in the United Arab Emirates — Mövenpick Hotel Apart-ments Downtown Dubai and a Mövenpick hotel in Dubai Me-dia City, both introducing new dining, leisure and meetings

concepts to two of the city’s most desirable precincts. The firm will also strengthen its presence in Egypt with Möv-enpick Resort El Ein Bay, its second property in the coastal area of El Sokhna. In Asia, the hospitality firm will bolster its cluster strategy in Thailand with the opening of Mövenpick Resort Khao Yai, which will feature a raft of business and leisure attractions.

With a current pipeline of over 40 properties, Möv-enpick will enter several ad-ditional new markets over the next few years including Muscat, Ras Al Khaimah, Abidjan, Addis Ababa and Abuja, while con-solidating its presence in countries with strong development potential.

Movenpick to debut in nine countriesMovenpick is set to open 11 properties in nine countries this year. Besides, the brand would also be boosting some of the cluster properties in various regions in 2018.

TT Bureau

Olivier ChavyPresident and CEOMövenpick Hotels & Resorts

In 2018, our global expansion drive really steps up a gear, with 11 new openings planned, thereby putting us firmly on track to meet our target of 125 properties by 2020 and introducing the Mövenpick brand in some very desirable locations

For an enhanced lounge experience

Collinson Group’s part-nership with LocusLabs is set to enhance the lounge experience and airport services available to the former’s customers, including those of Priority Pass, the world’s largest independent airport lounge and travel experiences programme. LocusLabs’ location as a service technology is used by a number of leading airlines and technology companies. It will be incorporated into the Priority Pass app, making it easier for users to locate lounges and understand how busy different facilities are, such as security wait times, in addition to seeking out other benefits inside terminals. Additionally, those with push notifications enabled on their smart phones can receive recommendations of services when entering an airport to help them navigate to lounges and exclusive discounts. The two companies are also collaborating on other groundbreaking technologies including Augmented Reality as they look to assist customers in navigating the airport space of the future.

14 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 FAMILYALBUM

Occupying an area of 3200 sq meter, Middle East once again displayed their fabulous new spaces at ITB Berlin, one of the most lucrative networking events in the world. The 52nd edition of the travel fair witnessed over 10,000 exhibitors and 160,000 visitors in 26 halls at the exhibition.

10,000 exhibitors attend ITB Berlin

Contd. on page 18

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 1 5TECHNOLOGY

Travelport looks into payment fraudsAccording to IATA, the airline industry incurs losses of $1 billion per year from fraudsters using fake credit card details to buy airline tickets. Travelport partnered with ACI Worldwide to deliver an intelligent fraud control solution for airline customers called ‘Travelport Authorize Plus’.

‘T ravelport Authorize Plus’ enhances Travelport’s

existing card payment gate-way by integrating with ACI’s award-winning ReD Shield platform. Part of the UP Pay-ments Risk Management solution, ReD Shield delivers real-time, cloud-based multi-tiered fraud prevention for eCommerce merchants of the UP Payments Risk Man-

agement solution. Through the integration, Travelport can provide its airline cus-tomers with the ability to seamlessly track ticketing purchase processes right through to the completion of a journey. Additional features include the dynamic fraud screening of card payments used to purchase air tickets via Travelport-connected agents, ability to flag and prevent ticket issuance, and detailed online management

reports of all transactions and status.

ACI’s UP Payments Risk Management solution utilises advanced data analytics, adaptive machine learn-ing and customer profiling techniques. This is backed by a unique combination of

patented predictive models and unrivalled global fraud intelligence, supported by a team of expert risk analysts.

Derek Sharp, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Air Commerce—Travelport, commented, “Our partnership with ACI Worldwide is in response to

the growing need to provide our airline customers with sophisticated tools to prevent card fraud in our industry. The advantage of combin-ing Travelport Authorize Plus with ACI ReD Shield is to have built a fully integrated solu-tion, which applies fraud con-trol management without the need for both our airline and agent customers to do any major development or change their workflow pro-cess of today.”

Andy McDonald, Vice President, ACI Worldwide, added, “We are excited to provide Travelport with cutting-edge payments fraud management capabilities that make Travelport Authorize Plus a leading fraud tool for the airline industry. When it comes to fraud control, the combination of our joint ca-pabilities has the potential to dramatically change the way air ticket transactions are processed today.”

TT Bureau

Derek SharpSenior Vice President and Managing Director, Air Commerce—Travelport

Andy McDonaldVice PresidentACI Worldwide Industry

The advantage of combining Travelport Authorize Plus with ACI ReD Shield is to have a fully integrated solution, which applies fraud control management without the need for both our airline and agent customers to change their workflow process of today

Derek Sharp

When it comes to fraud control, authorisation, capture and settlement, the combination of our joint capabilities has the potential to dramatically change the way air ticket transactions are processed today

Andy McDonald

16 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 TECHNOLOGY

Travel Audience attracts far-flung visitorsDubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) partnered with Travel Audience, an Amadeus company, that will further facilitate insights into visitor arrivals by widening its global reach through advanced data analytics.

According to recent find-ings, digital advertis-

ing spends surpassed TV worldwide in 2017, total-ing over $200 billion, with

digital media consump-tion evolving at breakneck speed. This has unlocked destination marketers to

shift their gears towards a smarter digital ecosystem. Further accelerating its ‘dig-ital, mobile and social first’ strategy, Dubai’s Depart-ment of Tourism and Com-merce Marketing (Dubai

Tourism) has entered into an agreement with Travel Audience to use its travel advertising platform.

The destination market-ing organisation will work with travel audience to build custom campaigns across a wide range of channels including online travel pub-lishers, social media and

metasearch engines. With added visibility into online travel pat-terns, it will be able to measure cam-paign performance more effectively and gather insights into traveller inten-tion and behaviour. Dubai Tourism is also using Amadeus Destination Insight

to gather information about global travel, including up-to-date search, booking and schedule data.

Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tour-ism and Commerce Mar-keting, said, “Tourism is central to Dubai’s economic growth and diversification. With Travel Audience’s in-telligent technology and team of experts, and Ama-deus’ far reaching travel network, we have found a platform that can provide insights that assist our de-cision making. By building brand and performance campaigns tailored to

specific segments in exclusive channels, we can attract new visitors from regions far and wide while we grow our estab-lished visitor base.”

Alexander Trieb, Man-aging Director, Travel Audi-ence, an Amadeus com-pany, added, “Powering the digital marketing strat-egy behind one of the world’s fastest grow-ing travel destinations re-quires a top team, technol-

ogy and network and we are excited to be working with Dubai Tourism. Together we are growing the destination’s touchpoints throughout the traveller’s digital journey, using meaningful data to convert visitors and push campaigns where it matters the most.”

With Travel Audience’s intelligent technology and team of experts, and Amadeus’ far reaching travel network, we have found a platform that can provide insights that assist our decision making

Issam KazimCEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing

TT Bureau

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 1 7HOTELS

TT Bureau

The joint venture between Nakheel and Centara to

open a themed property in the heart of Dubai in time for Expo 2020 will replicate the Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort in Pattaya. The property will deliver a family-centric lifestyle des-tination at Deira Islands, Nakheel’s new 15.3 sq km waterfront city that is set to become Dubai’s newest tourism hotspot. As the first Centara establishment in the UAE, this resort will cover an area of almost 300,000 sq ft and will be featuring a wa-terpark, multiple restaurants including alfresco rooftop dining options, kids’ club, spa and fitness centre, and business facilities.

The brands of Centara Hotels and Resorts include Centara Grand, five-star hotels and resorts in prime locations; Centara, four-star hotels and resorts; Centara Boutique Collection featur-ing boutique hotels; Centara Residence and Suites, ser-viced apartments for both short-term and long-term

stays; Centra by Centara, quality value hotels in con-venient locations, and COSI, affordable lifestyle hotels for the smart-minded travellers.

Markland Blaiklock, Deputy CEO, Centara stated, “The inspiration comes from our flagship Centara brand Mirage in Pattaya with the lost world theme. So the plan is to replicate that, and the theme of the Magic Car-pet is carried into the design

of the hotel. There are two other Centara hotels located near the mall; one will be residences and suites and the other one a hotel. We will be ready for Expo 2020 prior to October of the year. We are also planning on reposi-tioning some of the brands we already have in our port-folio by June this year. We are looking at Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Mo-rocco and Maldives over the coming years.”

Pamper with Centara experienceSlated to open for Expo 2020, the joint collaboration between Centara and Nakheel will be a four-star property. Markland Blaiklock, Deputy CEO, Centara Hotels & Resorts shares details with .

As the first Centara establishment in the UAE, this resort will cover an area of almost 300,000 sq ft and will be featuring a waterpark, multiple restaurants including alfresco rooftop dining options, kids’ club, spa and fitness centre, and business facilities

In the lap of nature lies Cityland MallIn keeping with its strategy, Dubai develops a novel concept in the retail tourism world.

Cityland Mall, a one-of-a-kind shopping destination,

is set to open by the latter part of the year with a 365-day miracle garden in the centre.

According to Fahimud-din Sharfuddin, Chief Ex-ecutive Officer and Board Member, Cityland Group, “With consistent progress on construction and leasing, we look forward to launching Cityland Mall during the fourth quarter of this year and add a unique dimension in terms of retail to the UAE market. We are working to conclude the leasing activities by adding an additional 30

per cent of leased retail space by year-end.” The landscaping contract for Central Park, an integral part of the mall has been awarded to Miracle Garden Landscaping, the com-pany behind world-class landscaped projects.

TT Bureau

Markland BlaiklockDeputy CEOCentara

Fahimuddin SharfuddinChief Executive Officer and Board Member, Cityland Group

18 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 FAMILYALBUM

ME exhibits unique products at ITB Berlin Contd. from page 14

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 1 9TECHNOLOGY

MENA to spend $155 billion in IT: GartnerAs Dubai, along with the rest of the Middle East and African region, focuses on IT in every sphere of travel, tourism and hospitality, recent findings by Gartner revealed that the spending in the IT component in all areas are set to increase to a staggering $155 billion over this year.

According to Peter Sondergaard, Executive

Vice President and Global Head of Research, Gartner, there will be a journey of change over the next few years to adapt to new tech-nologies that will revolution-ise the region. He stated that Dubai has become a leader today as they have already

initiated the adaptation of AI technologies in banking, avi-ation and hospitality sectors, sometimes even intangibly.

Sondergaard says, “Travel industry is primar-ily about systems which integrate with the customer experience while adding assets that exist within the industry. Only a few or-ganisations currently have

measurable KPIs that allow you to understand digital experiences that would ul-timately turn into customer satisfaction. There is a lot of focus on usage of technolo-gies, whether it is things that pertain to automated reg-istration or robots that help but most of it will be invis-ible technology. The aim is to embrace technologies that can support a much

more joyous form of client travel experience.”

“Leadership is foremost always. This is followed by a vision of what technol-ogy means so that you can measure the digital KPIs to identify the needs. It is im-portant to identify the skills required in the company.

You need to figure out the type of people you need to lead the orgainsation further into the digital age,” Sonder-gaard opines.

He also shared that in 2018, the MENA region will exhibit its highest IT spend-ing increase in the last three years. Spending in com-munication services is the segment that will largely

contribute to the rise in IT spending in MENA this year (see Table). Software is pro-jected to exhibit the strongest growth in 2018, with a 12.7 per cent increase year over year. The growth has been driven by companies pursu-ing new functionalities in ma-jor back-office systems like supply chain management, enterprise resource planning and customer service.

TT Bureau

Peter SondergaardExecutive Vice President and Global Head of Research, Gartner

Travel industry is primarily about systems which integrate with the customer experience while adding assets that exist within the industry. Only a few organisations currently have measurable KPIs that allow you to understand digital experiences that would ultimately turn into customer satisfaction

2017 Spending

2017 Growth (%)

2018 Spending

2018 Growth (%)

Devices 26,956 1.4 27,397 1.6

Data Center Systems 4,605 4.0 4,633 0.6

Software 5,500 10.9 6,199 12.7

IT Services 10,128 4.1 10,588 4.5

Communications Services 102,996 -1.4 106,547 3.4

Overall IT 150,185 0.04 155,364 3.4

Source: Gartner

20 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 SPECIALFEATURE

Career diplomat Nia Niscaya is a vibrant

personality that one would meet at many international travel trade forums. She has been instrumental in carry-ing out some of the most significant campaigns in the Middle East (ME) region. The entire face of the tour-ism sector will now reach a new pinnacle as the country reorganises to bring in more tourists to visit the destina-tion. As Deputy Minister of Tourism Marketing Develop-ment II, Niscaya’s new port-folio will include preparation of strategies to increase the number of international

tourists. The approach will be more customer centric with focus on understand-ing the needs of travellers and adaptation to tourists’ products and services. Her marketing development plan areas include Asia, Africa, America, Middle East and Europe markets.

Explaining the strategy for some focus areas fall-ing under her purview, Ni-scaya says, “We will focus on the top three markets, namely China, Europe and India (many Indian expatri-ates live in the Middle East). We will also make efforts on other potential markets from Eastern, Southern and

Central Asia, Middle East and Africa as well

as other parts of the globe which are poten-tial for the future development.”

Career diplomat to the fore

Niscaya is passionate about travel and tourism promotion. She retorts, “An-ything to do with the tourism sector always excites me. My educational background in law have enabled me to easily understand the legal and regulatory aspects of making decisions. Addition-ally, my degree in business administration has helped me build my expertise in relation to our organisational performance.”

Talking about her career journey, Niscaya shares, “Since the beginning of my career, I have been involved in the field of international cooperation. In 2008, I was promoted to Director of Promotion for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MiCE). In 2012, I took up a new challenge

and became Director of In-ternational Tourism Promo-

tion; and from 2015 until 2017, I was appointed as Director for Inter-national Promotion in charge for Eu-rope, Middle East, America and Af-rica. One of my chief responsi-bilities was to increase the

number of tourists from long haul markets and generate huge revenues. Some of the milestones accomplished offered dynamic changes in our market trends.” She continues to share that the number of foreign tourist arrivals from Asia, Europe, Middle East, America, and Africa had increased since 2014. Familiarisation trips for international media, travel agents and tour op-erators in collaboration with AccorHotels Group has oc-cupied 2,500 rooms from 2014 to 2018. “Successful collaboration with local gov-ernments and tour operators was well fostered in one pa-vilion at ITB Berlin in 2013, one of the largest tourism exhibitions in the world,” the minister said.

Selling destinations on digital platforms

As technology becomes the centre point in every sphere, travel, tourism and hospitality too are steadily adapting to the new meth-odologies. Niscaya has a new game plan to make ‘wonderful Indonesia’ digi-tally savvy by ensuring that more promotions are done in digital platforms to keep up with the next generation of travellers who seek quick

information at the click of a button. Niscaya explains, “In terms of marketing, we have focused on digital promotion. The tendency of customers to look for desti-nations through digital plat-forms (such as flights, hotel bookings and tour packag-es) is our biggest concern. Further, in 2018, we will pro-mote ‘Visit Indonesia Won-derful Indonesia (VIWI)’ pro-gramme with targets of hot deal packages for 18 desti-nations in Indonesia. These packages will be promoted in the Middle East as well. The programme will include Hot Deals for off season, Calendar of Events featuring top 100 events promoted by Indonesian Ministry of Tour-ism and Digital Destinations consisting of creative tour-ism products with ‘Insta-grammable’ concepts.

Air connectivity is a criti-cal success factor for boost-ing inbound tourist arrivals since almost 75 per cent of foreign tourists travel by air. The Ministry of Tourism will collaborate with airlines and wholesalers to improve ac-cessibility to the region. On the other hand, promotion of destination packages cannot stand alone with convention-al strategies. There is a need

to develop it further through digital access.

Nation of spendthriftsThe spending capac-

ity is always on a high note with the Middle Eastern travellers. Niscaya shares, “Last year, Indonesia saw 222,297 tourists from the Middle East. It may seem insignificant as a number, but drove big revenue. Mid-dle Eastern tourists, on an average, spend more than USD 1,900 per person on a trip, based on our Ministry’s statistics. It is a big number compared to other markets (ASEAN market on average spend USD 684 per person on a trip, Asians USD 979, Europeans and Americans USD 1,500). This is why we always do our best to make them visit our country, again and again. Tourists from ME visit destinations to not only relax or relish the weather but also to shop, dine out and indulge in luxury.”

Driving tourist traffic to IndonesiaPromoting a beautiful destination like Indonesia, is a lady driven by her passion to make tourism in the country soar to greater heights. Nia Niscaya, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Indonesia, talks about her new role and the journey of the new administration, which is trying its best to ensure that the country becomes one of the most sought-after destinations in the world.

Personality of the month

We will focus on top three markets, namely China, Europe and India. We

will also make efforts on other potential markets from Eastern, Southern and

Central Asia, Middle East and Africa as well as other parts

of the globe which are potential for the future

development

A new game plan has been initated to make ‘won-derful Indonesia’ digitally savvy by ensuring that more promotions are done in digital platforms to keep up with young travellers

Digitally Yours

Shehara Rizly

APRIL 2018 TRAVTALK 2 1HOTELS

Bleisure point for next-gen travellersUniquely conceptualised 270-room Rove Trade Centre is the new revolution transforming the hospitality industry. Situated amidst the old and new districts of Dubai, the property emanates a sense of cultural heritage in a modern setting with its trendy design integrated with an artistic feel of a bygone era.

As a midscale brand of Emaar Hospital-

ity Group, Rove Hotels is a niche home-grown brand which always strives to provide guests with upscale value. Rove Trade Centre is the fourth property located between the World Trade Center with sky scrap-ers on one side and Satwa area on the other, depicting old Dubai.

Home away from home

One of the first things that will catch one’s at-tention is the unique clock hanging behind the recep-tion. At the lobby, visitors can find a convenient store

or a mini mart apart from the hotel’s restaurant located at the same level. At another level, one will find a laun-dromat, where he/she can wash, dry and iron clothes at their leisure. You can hit the gym for a quick workout or take a dip in the pool or perhaps even spend some

time playing football or video games.

Hub for businessIdeal for the business

traveller, the lobby at the hotel with its state-of-the-art equipment such as Ap-ple Mac machines can be used by guests with long tables and high chairs. At the work spaces, one can grab a coffee or a quick sandwich from either the restaurant operated by Rove or from the mini mart at the side of the reception. Three meeting rooms offer guests the opportunity to hold their meetings or workshops as per their convenience. Two rooms can be joined to-gether to host nearly 70 at a time, whilst the third is more

for corporate board room type of meetings for just 12 people. The pitstop at the side of the meeting rooms will be the point to grab a coffee while networking with others.

GM sharesMagdalina Chung,

General Manager Rove Trade Centre stated that the concept was different as they wanted to make the guests feel at home. “Our objective is to help guests explore without borders. We attract millennials, young travellers and adventure seekers. Our concept is to make guests feel at home. Despite having the purchas-ing power to stay anywhere else, a lot of Rovers rotate

around the locations. We attract a lot of entrepreneurs or those who start their own business. For business start-ups, facilities rang-ing from meeting areas to work spaces are available. Our techno hub in the heart of the lobby is for youngsters as it consists of a playstation and other interesting games.”

TT Bureau

Magdalina ChungGeneral Manager Rove Trade Centre

22 TRAVTALK APRIL 2018 MOVEMENTSJumeirah Al NaseemDubai Azar Saliba has risen through the ranks to become General Manager of the fourth and final chapter of Madinat Jumeirah – Jumeirah Al Naseem. By 2012 Saliba was ready to run his own hotel and was appointed Hotel Manager of Jumeirah Mina A’Salam, the first hotel to open at Madinat Jumeirah in 2003. After successfully running the day-to-day management of Jumeirah Mina A’Salam and its staff, Saliba joined sister hotels Jumeirah Al Qasr and Jumeirah Dar Al Masyaf as Hotel Manager in 2013 and was later promoted to General Manager in 2015.

Atlantis, The PalmDubaiKerzner International Holdings, owner of Atlantis Resort and Residences, has appointed Michael P Wale as its new Chief Executive

Officer. Wale’s career, to date, was with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide that spanned almost 40 years, most recently as President for Europe,

Africa & Middle East, directly overseeing the operations for almost 250 hotels and resorts in 60 countries. Having served as a Next Step

Mentor with The Prince’s Trust, Wale mentors future leaders in hospitality.

Al Bait HotelSharjahGeneral Hotel Management (GHM) appointed Patrick Moukarzel as General Manager of Al Bait Sharjah, a 53-key hotel scheduled to open

later this year. A French national, Moukarzel’s appointment is a homecoming of sorts. Between 2006 and 2012, he rose through the ranks from a F&B Manager at The Chedi

Muscat to General Manager positions at the luxury hotel group’s properties

in Thailand and China. Since his last role with GHM as General Manager in Suzhou,

Moukarzel has managed luxury hotels in Penang, Malaysia and Maldives.

Jumeirah Mina A’Salam DubaiAndy Cuthbert has been appointed as General Manager at Jumeirah Mina A’Salam and Madinat Jumeirah Conference & Events, Jumeirah Hospitality. With a career spanning more than three decades, Cuthbert is considered one of Dubai’s leading figures in food and hospitality. Since joining Jumeirah Group in 2000 as Director of Operations for Jumeirah Hospitality, Cuthbert has played an instrumental role in steering the culinary standards within Dubai’s leading luxury hotel company. Cuthbert earlier served as General Manager of Jumeirah Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa.

M Hotel Downtown by Millennium DubaiCornelia Erhardt joins M Hotel Downtown by Millennium as the hotel’s new General Manager. Prior to her appointment, Erhardt held the same

role at Nassima Royal Hotel in Dubai. A key responsibility in conjunction with her team is to drive the strategic growth and revenue of its stunning 242 rooms and suites, its F&B outlets, MICE and spa facilities. Erhardt brings with her a wealth of international

leadership experience in the hospitality industry with over 40 years of experience, out

of which 10 years were spent in the GCC Region.

Jumeirah Al Qasr and Dar Al MasyafDubaiPinar Kartal Timer assumed the position of General Manager of Jumeirah Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf, Jumeirah. With an extensive and diverse background across sales, marketing and revenue management at several internationally renowned hotels, Pinar is well placed to complement the Resort’s leadership team. She holds a major in Tourism and Hotel Management at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, Turkey. Her hospitality career began in 1998 at the Hilton Istanbul’s revenue management department. With her stellar achievements in Istanbul, Pinar has become an integral member of the Madinat Jumeirah senior management team.